Literature
Poetry For The 99 Percent!
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| June Jordan, photo by Lynda Koolish |
The Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness invites poets, writers, activists, and dreamers to Washington, DC, March 22-25, 2012, for four days of poetry, community building, and creative transformation. This year's festival celebrates the life and work of poet-essayist-teacher-activist June Jordan on the 10th anniversary of her death and will also feature Alice Walker.
Feb 20, 2012,
16:03
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Literature
REVIEW: Marable on Malcolm
Marable must be judged by what he says, not by what others say he “intended.” The best thing about the book, of course, is that it raises Malcolm X to the height of our conversation again, and this is a very good thing in this Obama election period. (Post racial it ain’t!)...Ultimately, it is Marable’s own political line that renders the book weakened.
By Amiri Baraka
May 13, 2011,
11:28
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Literature
Time To Write
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| Lorene Carey |
Author Lorene Cary writes about the process of creating her new novel, If Sons, Then Heirs. Now, Cary says, "it feels as if the stories force their way into books. They wait, like tiny shelled creatures, until marriage and children, business, grief, failure, and love soften me into a suitable environment for their expression. Then it’s time to write."
Apr 26, 2011,
23:53
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Literature
Poetry: No Back Door
In his book No Back Door, Mervyn Taylor maintains a visceral connection to his many characters. Carnival participants loom large, as well as Brooklyn denizens.
By Ruth-Miriam Garnett
Feb 22, 2011,
12:30
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Literature
Plays By Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez addresses issues of sexism and survival in a book of plays that can best be described as poetic fire infused with hope for Black people in �this place called America.�
By Natalie Maxwell
Jan 20, 2011,
12:37
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Literature
Fighting Neo-Confederacy
SB ON THE RADIO! Since March of this year, Esther Iverem has co-produced and co-hosted "What's At Stake" with Verna Avery-Brown on WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington D.C. This new, regular feature will link SeeingBlack.com's readers to these shows that, for now, are archived for only two weeks after broadcast. Available until September 22, 2010: A discussion on the economy featuring Bill Fletcher; An interview with Hall of Fame football player Mile Haynes about his victory over prostate cancer and an interview with author James Loewen about his new book, The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The Great Truth about the Lost Cause. You can also tune in live on Wednesday mornings, 10-11a EST.
Sep 13, 2010,
16:59
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Literature
Marshall's Triangular Road
Paule Marshall delivers a revealing and often funny memoir about her emergence as a young writer.
By Sidik Fofana
Aug 27, 2010,
12:29
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Literature
Scholars on the Mic
In Born to Use Mics, editors Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai assemble top hip-hop scholars to dissect Nas's Illmatic into its cultural, political, literary and global components.
By Sidik Fofana
Apr 8, 2010,
12:58
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Literature
Poems of Provocation
The Split This Rock Poetry Festival is happening now through March 13, 2010. The festival in Washington, D.C. features readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism, opportunities to speak out for social justice, imagine a way forward, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change.
Feb 22, 2010,
11:16
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Literature
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
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| Lucille Clifton |
A memorial poem by Ruth-Miriam Garnett and six of Lucille Clifton's poems: blessing the boats, sorrow song, jasper texas 1998, wishes for sons, my dream about being white and mulberry fields.
Feb 17, 2010,
14:16
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Literature
SB's Best Books of 2009
This year,I gleaned and digested tons of books. Oh how many worlds I traveled! In the end, some journeys were more memorable than others, and so I salute those journeys with a cozy place on my list of the year's most notable books.
By Sidik Fofana
Dec 30, 2009,
12:46
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Literature
Monk As a Rock Star?
How Columbia Records tried to make Thelonious Monk a rock star...and failed. Adapted from Robin D. G. Kelley, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (New York: The Free Press, 2009)
By Robin D.G. Kelley
Nov 20, 2009,
12:47
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Literature
LaValle's Big Machine
Big Machine, Victor LaValle's first novel in seven years, dives off the familiar plank of African-American fiction to where hardened Queens dwellers meet underground mutants.
By Sidik Fofana
Nov 5, 2009,
12:04
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Literature
Children of Children...
Featured here is an excerpt from The Children of Children Keep Coming: An Epic Griotsong By Russell Goings (Simon & Schuster). With images by Romare Bearden.
Oct 27, 2009,
10:32
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Literature
Cornel West's New Memoir
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| Cornel West |
Cornel West, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University and the author of numerous books on race, has just published his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. In this interview, he discusses his death scare, his controversial exit from Harvard, Larry Summers and his own run-in with the Cambridge police.
Oct 15, 2009,
13:51
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Literature
Barack Like Me
In this excerpt from his new book, Barack Like Me, comedian David Alan Grier explores the notion that Barack Obama is, officially, our first real-life magical Negro.
Oct 6, 2009,
11:05
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Literature
The Many Shades of Africa
The new literary anthology Gods and Soldiers shows that Africa may be too big to compartmentalize, although it’s not too scattered to hold certain trends.
By Sidik Fofana
Sep 8, 2009,
13:23
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Literature
Black to the Beach
In Colson Whitehead's new novel, Sag Harbor, middle class Black teens on summer break try to figure out how to be.
By Sidik Fofana
Aug 27, 2009,
14:47
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Literature
The Demise of VIBE
With diminishing resources available for thoughtful and accessible criticism, mainstream Black cultural critics exist as little more than commentators on the Obama White House and complainers about Black Entertainment Television. Blackness is shaped to fit the 24-hour news cycle.
By Mark Anthony Neal
Jul 19, 2009,
21:48
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Literature
Summer Reading
Seeingblack.com’s Annual Summer Reading List 2009: Here are eight recently published books chosen by Seeingblack.com contributing critic, Sidik Fofana, for the summer time. So grab your sunbrella, shades and perch on the sand because these books are guaranteed to give you a good read!
Jul 13, 2009,
17:45
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Literature
Subway: After the Irish
An excerpt from Subway: After the Irish, a book by Horace Mungin, a former employee for the New York City Transit Authority. Chapter Three: 'Motorman, Run That Dog Over.'
Apr 10, 2009,
07:20
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Literature
Hip-Hop's Brand New Bag
In Book of Rhymes, Adam Bradley argues that rappers use the conventional forms of rhythm and structure in unconventional ways.
By Sidik Fofana
Apr 6, 2009,
11:54
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Literature
Contest: Poems of Witness
The deadline for the Split This Rock 2009 Adult Poetry Contest has passed. The contest benefits the next Split This Rock Poetry Festival - Washington, DC, March 10-13, 2010. $1,000 awarded for poems of provocation & witness. Patricia Smith, judge. More information here...
Mar 17, 2009,
10:25
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Literature
Serious History in a Comic
In its second edition, the comic book Still I Rise covers history, from slavery to the election of President Barack Obama in November 2008.
By Sidik Fofana
Feb 6, 2009,
12:16
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